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1906 Streetcar Network

Shown in this map are streetcar lines and some major streets in Portland at about 1906, when all the streetcars were consolidated into a single operation, owned by a Philadelphia company. Transit had spread out into southeast Portland with a few more lines in the north and inner part of the west side, but the northeast - the Rose City Park Area - is untouched. Also evident in this map is Union Pacific’s rail connection to the east via Sullivan's Gulch. The railroad was the first to use Sullivan’s Gulch as a modern transportation corridor. By 1906 Portland is tied into the national transportation system by something else besides water. The year 1906 also marks the near end for Portland's Northwest preeminence as an ocean port. By 1909 railroads will have connected Seattle with the rest of the country. Most of the ocean shipping that had been coming down the river into Portland would shift to Puget Sound for rail connection; Portland’s role as the primary NorthwestPacificCoast port city will begin to decline.